If you’ve ever watched Sunday TODAY or seen Willie Geist keeping the peace on Morning Joe, you know he has this specific, dry wit. It’s a sort of "coolest guy in the room who doesn’t know it" vibe. But if you grew up watching television in the '80s and '90s, you know exactly where that came from.
Willie Geist’s dad is Bill Geist, a legend in his own right.
Honestly, calling Bill Geist just a "journalist" feels like calling a five-star chef a "cook." For over 30 years, he was the soul of CBS Sunday Morning. He wasn't the guy reporting on triple-digit inflation or geopolitical rifts; he was the guy talking to the man who built a castle out of beer cans or the woman who ran a school for Santa Clauses.
He found the weird, the wonderful, and the quintessentially American. And he did it all with a raised eyebrow and a deadpan delivery that his son, Willie, clearly inherited.
The Man Behind the Legacy: Who is Bill Geist?
Bill Geist wasn't born into the New York media bubble. He’s a kid from Champaign, Illinois. Before he was an Emmy-winning correspondent, he served as a combat photographer in Vietnam with the First Infantry Division. He earned a Bronze Star there, though he rarely led with that in interviews.
He started his career at The Chicago Tribune and then moved to The New York Times, writing the "About New York" column. Think about that for a second. A kid from the Midwest explaining New York to New Yorkers. It worked because he saw the city—and later the country—through a lens of amused curiosity rather than cynicism.
In 1987, he joined CBS. That’s where he really became a household name. While most reporters were chasing the "hard" news, Bill was out in his weathered RV, finding stories in the corners of America that everyone else ignored. He won two Emmys. He got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But if you ask him, he’s probably most proud of finishing third in the Illinois State Fair Bake-Off.
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That’s the Geist brand in a nutshell.
The Secret Battle with Parkinson’s Disease
For a long time, the public—and even some of his own family—didn't know that Bill Geist was fighting a private war. In 2012, he finally went public on CBS Sunday Morning, revealing he had been living with Parkinson’s disease for 20 years.
Twenty years.
He had kept it quiet because he didn't want to be "the sick guy." He didn't want the pity. Willie has talked openly about this, admitting that as a younger man, he was sometimes frustrated by his dad's lack of energy or the way he’d need naps. He didn't realize his father was literally fighting his own body to keep showing up for work.
The diagnosis changed their relationship, but not in a "tragic movie" kind of way. It made them more intentional. Willie sits on the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation now, and the two even co-wrote a book in 2014 titled Good Talk, Dad: The Birds and the Bees... and Other Conversations We Forgot to Have.
It’s a funny book. Like, actually laugh-out-loud funny. They use humor to deal with the heavy stuff—Parkinson’s, aging, and the fact that Bill never really gave Willie "the talk" when he was a kid.
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Like Father, Like Son: The Professional Parallel
It’s easy to look at Willie Geist and see a "nepo baby," but that doesn't really fit here. Yes, he grew up with camera crews in his living room in New Jersey. Yes, he saw how the sausage was made. But Willie started as a low-level production assistant, logging tapes at 3:00 a.m.
The real connection between them isn't a hand-up; it's a style.
- The Humor: Both men use self-deprecation as a weapon.
- The Everyman Appeal: They don't talk down to the audience.
- The Storytelling: They both care more about the person in the story than the event.
Willie has often said that his dad's career was a blueprint. Bill showed him that you can be serious about your craft without taking yourself too seriously. That’s a rare trait in the ego-driven world of cable news.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Geists
There's a misconception that because they are "media royalty," their lives are all glitz. In reality, the Geist family is pretty low-key. Bill has been married to his wife, Jody, since 1970. That kind of longevity is almost unheard of in the industry.
They lived in Ridgewood, New Jersey—a suburban town where Willie played football and basketball. It wasn't a Manhattan penthouse life. It was a "mow the lawn and go to the diner" life. That groundedness is why Willie can interview a President one minute and a guy who eats 50 hot dogs the next without missing a beat.
The Retirement Years
Bill Geist officially retired from CBS in 2018. His send-off was emotional, filled with clips of him at monster truck rallies and tiny-town festivals. Since then, he’s focused on his health and his family.
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He recently released another book, Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America. It’s a memoir about his youth working at a resort in Missouri. Even in retirement, the man can’t stop telling stories.
Why Their Story Matters Today
In a world where everything feels polarized and angry, the Geist legacy is a reminder of a different kind of journalism. It’s about finding common ground through humor and shared humanity.
What you can learn from the Geist family dynamic:
- Don't hide from the hard stuff forever. Bill’s decision to go public with Parkinson’s helped thousands of others feel less alone.
- Humor is a survival tool. If you can laugh at the absurdity of life, you're winning.
- Work ethic is quiet. You don't have to shout about your achievements if the work speaks for itself.
If you want to dive deeper into their world, grab a copy of Good Talk, Dad. It’s a masterclass in how to talk to your parents about things that actually matter, even if it takes you thirty years to get around to it.
You should also check out old clips of Bill's "Way Back When" segments on CBS. They are a time capsule of an America that felt a little more connected and a lot more interesting.
The "Willie Geist dad" story isn't just about a famous father; it's about a guy who taught his son—and all of us—how to look at the world with a bit more kindness and a lot more humor.